Category Archives: coffee

I’m a big fan of coffee dates, as you may have noticed, and Amsterdam is home to numerous places to have a decent cup of coffee. My favorite is Two For Joy Coffee Roasters (Frederiksplein 29 & Haarlemmerdijk 182; see previous post). But Screaming Beans (Hartenstraat 12), located in the Nine Streets in the Jordaan, is another coffee house in Amsterdam that I’ve been meaning to try. And last week I finally had that opportunity.

Screaming Beans is a unique concept of coffee, sandwiches and a Coffee Academy. Most of their products are biological, sustainable and of the highest quality possible. Expect coffees served from Bocca Coffee and sandwiches made with bread from the delicious bakery BROOD.

What makes this coffee house unique is the combination of a Barista Academy that not only offers different SCAE (Specialty Coffee Association of Europe) training sessions and examinations and Latte Art courses for professionals, but workshops for the ‘home barista!’ See the full agenda here. Screaming Beans (Hartenstraat 12) is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm, Saturday from 8.30am to 5pm and Sunday from 10am to 5pm. Click for more Amsterdam Insights, published every Wednesday.

A cold front in the Netherlands (a.k.a. freezing temperatures) means several things: you hope that it will snow (check!), you hope that the canals in Amsterdam will freeze over (check!) and you hope for an Elfstedentocht, or ’11 Cities Tour,’ an ice skating event in Friesland in the north of Holland that hasn’t taken place since 1997 and only 15 times since 1909 (we’re still waiting on this one!)

I saw this video a few days ago and couldn’t believe it, people were actually skating on the famous canals! I had heard boat traffic was forbidden in the canals a few days ago, to allow the ice to freeze. But it actually happened. And yesterday, two friends and I strapped our skates on and head out of the Keizersgracht…

Everyone was on the ice… Professional skaters and amateurs, mothers and babies, fathers and toddlers learning to skate, the elderly, tourists, generous folk serving hot chocolate…

A game of ice hockey, on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam…

And after, watching the sunset over the Prinsengracht, we cozyed up in cafe Spanjer en van Twist (Leliegracht 60) for a cup of warm hot chocolate…

Spanjer en van Twist (Leliegracht 60) can be found in between the Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht. The cafe open daily from 10am till 1am, serving lunch between 10am and 4pm and dinner from 5.30pm to 10pm. Be sure to get out on the canals before it’s too late! I recommend the Keizersgracht for skating and be careful when passing under bridges, don’t risk it if the ice looks questionable!

Café de Pels (Huidenstraat 25) is a typical Amsterdam “bruin” or brown cafe in the Nine Streets. What makes it typical? “Well, aside from the tobacco-stained walls that give them their name, there’s an untranslatable word in Dutch – gezellig – meaning cosy, intimate, relaxed” (The Guardian). Basically, it’s just a good time. My Italian friend told me, “In Italy, we don’t just go sit in a bar and read a newspaper,” and to be honest, I kind of love that about Amsterdam.

Loved the newspaper racks, the black and white photographs on the walls and the many lights hanging from the ceiling…

Café de Pels can be found on the Huidenstraat between the Herengracht and Keizersgracht. The cafe is open daily from 10am to 1am, and Fridays and Saturdays till 3am. Click for another great brown cafe in Amsterdam-Oost, Cafe Koosje (Plantage Middenlaan 37), and there are plenty other great ones to try including Cafe Van Zuylen (Torensteeg 8), Cafe de Jaren (Nieuwe Doelenstraat 20), Cafe ‘t Smalle (Egelantiersgracht 12), Cafe Oosterling (Utrechtsestraat 140) and Cafe Wetering (Weteringstraat 37). More here. Click for more Amsterdam Insights, published every Wednesday.

I mentioned this cafe in last weeks’ roundup of Amsterdam-Oost, but I thought I’d share a few more photographs.

Cafe Koosje can be found at Plantage Middenlaan 37, around the corner from Burgermeester (Plantage Kerklaan 37) and is open Monday to Thursday and Sunday from 9am to 1am, Friday and Saturday’s till 3am. Click for more Amsterdam Insights, published every Wednesday.

The Haarlemmerdijk location is very new (and very conveniently close to my apartment!) They’ve been open at the Frederiksplein for about a year now. The interior of the Haarlemmerdijk shop is very minimalistic…

… Which makes it a great place to read or study.

I had been biking around the city all Friday morning so I decided on a large iced latte, that was simultaneously fabulously bitter and sweet at the same…

There’s something about brick walls…

I grabbed a magazine to read while I sipped my iced latte – Acne Paper, ever heard of it? It’s only published twice a year but you can read the magazine online, here’s the latest issue. I glanced briefly at an article about the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia…